Homeward bound....

Good evening folks. We are just about to tuck ourselves in tonight and bring a close to this amazing trip. We leave our hotel tomorrow morning at 4am in order to catch our first flight to get home. We should be in Miami around 10:45am. I am sure your kids will be calling to check in at that time. Thank you for following our trip. We hope you enjoyed. I will leave you with a group picture we took tonight at dinner with our tour guide Desiree. See you all soon!

Day 3 Galapagos - Bartolome Island

Sorry for the delay. We just made it back from Galapagos and are safe and sound in Quito once again. Yesterday (Sunday), we traveled to Bartolome Island, another island of the Galapagos. This was an early day as we left the hotel by 5am to catch our boat. The boat took us to Bartolome Island where we climbed a steep set of steps to get to the foothills of a volcano (a very picturesque moment). From there we went on another snorkeling adventure. The sights on this adventure were absolutely breathtaking. We saw sea lions, iguanas, sharks, swam with penguins and beautiful fish. This was for sure the highlight of the day. Some of the underwater video we were able to capture signifies the excitement in which we were able to participate. Enjoy this amazing video that Mr. Pirring took of a penguin swimming at arms length from us. He didn't like Mr. Pirring's camera too much!


Today (Monday) was solely devoted to traveling back to Quito from the Galapagos. We arrived our our hotel a little while ago. We just ate dinner and are having Salsa lessons at 8pm, provided by none other than Mr. Pirring (joking - we have hired someone to give us salsa lessons, but you could imagine what it would be like otherwise!)

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we are off to do some community work in a school. We then plan on riding a cable car (Telferico). This is the 4th highest cable car in the world. We will then visit the marketplace one last time to grab all of you some last-minute souvenirs. We will be back at the hotel for dinner, pack it up, and we will be on our way home first thing Wednesday morning. Until tomorrow . . . good night.

Day 2 Galapagos - Floreana Island

Our day started off a little rocky (literally) as we took a 2 hour boat ride to Floreana Island. The ride was a bit rocky for some of us as a few of us got sick on the way. We made it safe and sound however, and we were all able to snorkel in one of the most beautiful areas possible. We saw penguins, dolphins, blue footed boobies, sea turtles, and sea lions (we were seriously swimming with the sea lions and a few of us actually were able to touch them)! It was an action packed day and another one on its way tomorrow. We are off to Bartolome Island early tomorrow morning. Good night to all.......... I will try to get the video from Floreana Island posted first thing tomorrow morning. The connection speed is pretty poor right now, so please check back tomorrow morning sometime. Our apologies. (FYI for those inquiring minds - Mr. Pirring picture count approx. 1,200 pics and counting) Still having issued with the slow connection speed in the Galapagos. I will try to get this posted, if not, I will be sure to post the video as soon as we arrive back in Quito.

Galapagos Day 1

Good evening folks. This post comes to you as we sit at our hotel cafe after a day long adventure exploring the Galapagos. We left Quito this morning at 9:30 and arrived to the Galapagos around noon. We were fortunate enough to see Cotopaxi from our plane.




After arriving in the Galapagos islands, we took a 10 minute bus ride, took a 10 minute ferry ride, and then finally took a 45 minute bus ride (see picture) to Santa Cruz (one of the Galapagos Islands). There we arrived at our hotel - Hotel Silberstein. The hotel is quaint yet beautiful in its own right.


Our first adventure took us to the Charles Darwin Research Center, a short walk down the street from our hotel. There we were able to explore some unreal sights, including turtles (big and small) and of course Lonesome George - the last turtle of his species in the world. Iguanas were plentiful within the research center as well as beautiful birds.


We came back from the research center, got cleaned up and walked a short distance to dinner. After dinner we shopped a little and then called it a night. We are off to Floreana early tommorrow to see another island the of the Galapagos. Good night for now...........

Quito/Cotopaxi Day 2

Good evening. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures of the "tired travelers" that I posted about an hour ago. Needless to say, today was a busy day. We began the day eating breakfast at 7:15am on the 7th floor of our hotel. From there, we all boarded our tour bus and traveled about 2 hours south of Quito to Cotopaxi, Ecuador's largest active volcano. We made a few pit stops along the way for some pictures (mainly for Mr. Pirring), a few snacks, and of course the ever important bathroom break. Here is a picture of a popular snack amongst the group.

As we reached 12,500 feet above sea level, Cotopaxi stood in front of us, mammouth with ice capped peaks gleaming in the brief sunlight. Here is one of the pictures Mr. Pirring took as we all stood at a lake below the summit of Cotopaxi. Mind you, the summit of Cotopaxi is 19,640 feet above sea level, some 7,000 additional feet above where we were.

Click here to see the video we took while on this tour.

Here is a group picture our tour guide took of us near the lake. Beautiful scenery....

We had the opportunity to stop at a small market at the foothill of Cotopaxi. It seemed like we all had a similar taste in hats.

Although we have seen some great sights in Quito, everyone seems to really be looking forward to our adventures that begin tomorrow morning in the Galapagos. We will be up at 5:45am, eating breakfast and leaving for the airport at 7:30am. Our flight leaves for the Galapagos at 9:30am. I am sure the stories and pictures will continue to amaze. We hope you are all enjoying following our adventures. Be back soon.......

Proof that we have been busy!

Enjoy - I will be back after dinner for the summary of the day.

Day 1 - Quito (cont'd)

Today started off bright and early as we all ate a delicious breakfast at 7am on the beautiful 7th floor restaurant of Hotel Quito. Check out the view we had while we ate..........

Our tour bus then transported us to the

ACTUAL equator. We were able to see many experiments and learned of the history of the indiginous people of Ecuador. This was really interesting as we saw how water flows differently while on the equator line versus being a few feet off of the line. This is not a myth!! We have video to prove it (I will do my best to find the time to upload the video asap). We were also given the chance to attempt to balance an egg on top of a nail (some succeeded and got diplomas!).

We then proceeded to Old Towne Quito and went to the very popular town plaza.
There were so many activities going on, ranging from music, to dance, to shoe shining. This was a great photo oportunity for the kids. After taking pictures (242 pics for Mr. Pirring - not joking) Desiree walked us through Old Towne to Santa Domingo church. The church was absolutely huge and was full of history and beatiful architecture. This all provided for more amazing photo opportunities. Here is a picture Mr. Pirring took of one of the chapels within the church.

We came back to the hotel, relaxed for a few hours (some took a swim, hot tub, sauna etc.) while others took a nap. We just got done eating dinner at our hotel and as soon as I finish this post, we are taking the kids out for dessert. More to follow as we tackle a volcano............. Coatapaxi!